LG V20 preview: Less rugged, more appealing

What was originally its own line now looks far closer to a member of the G family of phones.

Less than a year go, LG launched a brand new and somewhat-confusing line with the V10. It was bigger and more rugged than the G series — at the time led by the G4 — and ostensibly pointed at content creation rather than just consumption. The LG V10 had a larger screen with a unique always-on secondary screen, better audio output and recording, new camera controls that you could tweak all day, and a removable battery.

There are LG V10 fans out there. The problem is there aren't that many, and certainly not enough to have warranted LG continuing in the exact same direction with its next V phone. While the LG G5 certainly isn't flying off the shelves, its more general appeal has obviously led to more success than the V10. For that reason, it would seem, we have the LG V20 in 2016 that integrates much of what the G5 offered earlier this year with some of the core thoughts from the V10 sticking around.

The LG V20 ditches its tough-feeling exterior for something a bit more svelte, and adopts most of the software experience developed for the G5. At the same time, it carries on from the V10 by keeping its larger display and removable battery, while also doubling down on robust camera capabilities, top-end audio and extra features. It is, of course, the first phone shipping with Android 7.0 Nougat as well.

LG is fighting an uphill battle with the V20, but it's putting its best foot forward with this top-end flagship. Let us show you know it all comes together.

Moving pictures

LG V20 Video preview

Words and pictures are one thing, but wrapping up my thoughts on the LG V20 into a video can only add to the experience. Be sure to check out the hands-on preview video above, and when you're done with that continue on to the rest of the preview for all of the details and analysis.

Solid, not rugged

LG V20 Hardware

The LG V10 was an imposing device. The 5.7-inch screen size didn't immediately tip you to it (there are far bigger phones out there), but the stainless steel build and near-200 gram weight was an imposing force in your hand(s) and pocket. Keeping the same screen size, LG has considerably slimmed down the V20 — it's narrower, thinner and much lighter.

When you go thinner and narrower in the body there's bound to be a weight savings, but LG also made a complete switch in materials here. Gone is the stainless steel (which we really don't see in phones nowadays) body, replaced by AL6013 aluminum in every place possible — there's a bit of plastic at the top and bottom for antennas, as you'd expect. That full-on aluminum build means that the textured rubberized "DuraSkin" coating is also gone, which in my eyes is a plus — some liked it, but that wasn't a look that appealed to a wide audience.

At a glance, you immediately get notes of the LG G5. The flat back houses a familiar camera pod and fingerprint sensor, and smoothly curves over to the sides and into sculpted glass on the front, with minimal unnecessary cutouts or design "features." Everything else is as expected, with volume keys on the sides and a simple speaker, USB-C port and headphone jack on the bottom.

Underneath the finely sculpted and subtly curved glass on the front is a 5.7-inch QHD (2560x1440, good for 513 ppi) IPS "Quantum" display, the same size as the V10's (and Note 7's). In my short time using it the display seemed markedly nicer than the LG G5 I was holding next to it, so the first impressions are good — let's hope it has also improved daylight visibility and brightness over the lackluster panel on the G5 as well.

It's of course joined by the "Second Screen" up at the top, which is shoved over to the right to make room for the front-facing camera. The Second Screen is the same size as before, but nearly twice as bright now and with higher contrast, putting it more on par with the primary display panel.

The V20's whole hardware story is a dramatic departure from the V10, and it looks really great — to me, better than the G5 does. LG's manufacturing is perfect, and it means the V20 still feels substantial and solid, even though it no longer looks rugged and rough like the V10. And though it now looks similar to the G5, there's a notable improvement in the metal — though this is still a "coated" metal, it still feels like aluminum unlike the faux-metal feeling of the G5.

What makes the build all the more impressive is that LG has designed the V20 to keep a removable battery — while also bumping up to 3200 mAh — which instead of coming out of the bottom like the G5 comes with a fully-removable back plate (remember when phones had those?). Just press a button low down on the left side and the back lifts up and unlatches, popping off to reveal the battery and SD card slots (augmenting 64GB of internal storage). When you press it back on it feels as though the back isn't removable — the tolerances are just that tight, and the latching mechanism is strong.

Hi-Fi audio

When it comes to audio, LG already pre-announced things when it told the world the V20 would have a 32-bit Quad DAC. Those who are into hi-fi audio will know that's a great thing when it comes to audio output to headphones. LG touts numbers like having half as much noise and nearly double the dynamic range compared to the Galaxy S7, but most probably didn't think there was an issue with the audio quality coming out of their current phone.

Things get a little weird when it comes to branding, though. Every single V20 sold will have the same great audio capture and playback hardware, but LG's pre-announced partnership with Bang & Olufsen for the "B&O Play" branding will only apply to some markets like Asia — and not the U.S. Those models with B&O Play branding will have special audio tuning from Bang & Olufsen, a silkscreened logo on the back of the phone and include B&O in-ear headphones in the box.

What you're more likely to notice is on the audio recording front, where the V20's mics can take in sound up to 132 dB — perfect for taking video of concerts, sporting events or large crowds of any type. If you'd like it can also be recorded in LPCM 24 bit 48kHz uncompressed format, giving you great playback quality as well. That also pairs up with new video stabilization technology called "Steady Record 2.0" that hopes to smooth out handheld video clips even more thanks to extra live digital processing.

Heavy on cameras

When it comes to still photos, things are upgraded as well. The V20 has adopted the G5's dual camera setup on the rear of the phone, with 16MP f/1.8 OIS-supported primary camera sitting next to an 8MP f/2.4 super-wide 135-degree camera.

The one change here is in terms of auto focus, where the V20 has a hybrid system consisting of laser, phase-detect and contrast auto focusing, choosing the right system depending on the situation. I've been intrigued by the wide-angle secondary camera on the G5 and I'm happy to see it here — and while it's somewhat disappointing to see the same camera setup as the G5, it's still slated to be one of the best cameras available today.

Things have been upgraded a little bit on the front-facing camera, moving away from dual cameras to a single 5MP sensor with an ultra-wide 120-degree lens. Say goodbye to selfie sticks.

Say hello to Nougat

LG V20 Software

LG touted for weeks before the announcement of the V20 that it would be the first phone shipping with Android 7.0 Nougat installed out of the box, and with the storm of news surrounding the software's launch it set rather high expectations. But the V20 was never going to ship with an interface like you'll find on an updated Nexus 6P today. Truth is that what you find on the V20 is very close to what you'll see on the LG G5 today (which is much nicer than the V10's software), but with some Nougat underpinnings throughout.

The launcher experience in "LG UX 5.0+" is near-identical to the G5, down to the icons, lack of app drawer (by default) and animations. The notification shade has received a little bit of a tune-up with a simpler and flatter look, as have the settings, but you won't mistake this software for anything but LG. Nougat's new multi-window mode works as it does on the Nexus 6P in terms of switching apps, but interface-wise it's the same as what LG offered for a limited set of apps on the V10.

Despite the minimal interface changes coming from the G5, LG's accomplishment of shipping the V20 with the latest Google software is a notable one. Of course Nougat offers lots of changes that are very important, from under-the-hood changes like performance and battery life up to things you'll notice every day like multi-window, bundled notifications and direct reply notifications. Shipping with Android 7.0 puts it ahead of the pack that are still waiting on their own Nougat update, but it's also important that the V20 gets its own updates going forward. We'll see.

The V10's calling card Second Screen has made a return, unchanged in terms of size as noted earlier, but with a bit larger icons and fonts it should be easier to use at a glance or with a quick tap. You can still use it to check out notifications when you're doing something else on the main display, as well as use it for toggles or quick app launching. It took a while to get used to on the V10 and may not work its way into your daily routine, but there's really no downside to having it up there — the V20 doesn't seem to have a particularly large top bezel because of it.

Using a mostly-bare minimally configured V20 for a handful of minutes to get a feel for the software, it seems as though LG's done a good job having everything in tip-top shape performance-wise. And it should — that's the case on every high-end phone right out of the box. But with a Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM it should handle being loaded up with your apps as well.

Lots ot explore

LG V20 More to come

The total package the V20 is offering steps well beyond what the V10 was in its time, and that took LG changing much of what defined the V10 physically. Just as interestingly, in many ways the V20 is a better total package than the G5, thanks to its robust number of features and lack of a distracting modular system.

The top-end specs, high-resolution display, fingerprint sensor and USB-C port are all table stakes on a flagship today, but it's worth noting that the V20 doesn't seem to have any "gotcha" line items missing. The choice to go to a sleek solid metal frame, dropping the rugged design elements, means the V20 can appeal to many more people right from the start. Then you add in a big screen, an interesting camera configuration and a couple crowd-pleasing features like a removable battery and SD card slot, and the V20 starts to check a lot of boxes for people looking for a big, powerful phone.

The story of the LG V20 being for "content creation" is a bit overblown, especially considering its similarity to the smaller G5. But thankfully that narrative doesn't get in the way of the V20 just having the specs and features most people are looking for a phone today. On the face of it, with unforutnately limited time to experience everything the V20 offers, it looks like LG has pulled together all of the necessary components for a great phone. The V series is all of a sudden looking bright.

wow, for a tech site, not too smart... the V20 also has HD voice, wifi calling capable, and AWS-3 the only phone on the market which has the next level of LTE speed which is coming soon ...... and for all those times you lose your remote for your tv etc... the V20 has an infrared blaster.... crap it even has an fm tuner..... so the only thing of importance that it is missing is the kitchen sink for washing your dirty hands if you touch cell phones without all these wet dreams... oh with lossless flac music on tap - the much needed -holy- sd card resurrection might have people going back to church..

I'm rather liking this device. Currently driving a S6 edge plus . so the 5'7 is right for me. I was leaning on the Note7 then the recall. also I need to see how it feels and at the end of it what will the price be? that is a major factor. I do not like how the new Pixel device looks the two tone back is not for me also the bezel in the front is massive it reminds me of the iPhone 7 plus.

Did I miss the part where it was shown to be less rugged? Were there drop tests? Did they try keying the screen? Did they run over it? I read about it appearing less rugged but missed all the tests/proof.

I'm impressed as the front it's the same thing my blackberry z10, to the upper speaker is the same format. lg congratulations, made ​​a very handsome smartphone. so should be the next generation z10 ... but the blackberry fled .

I have had several Samsungs (Galaxy S, Note 2, now Note 4). The LG is almost identical in size and weight to my Note 4 so I don't think it is too big.
I am kind of tired of Samsung so I might give the LG a try for my next phone.

Will the battery explode? Just kidding. All phone batteries are potential explosive devices depending on manufacturing tolerance, misuse (dropping the phone, etc.). What has LG's history been on this? Where do they get their batteries?

I agree with hsianloon's question. What is LG's track record on updates? Also can we buy this phone not carrier locked so we can get updates directly from LG and not from AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.?

It looks....a bit like a brick. I don't know if its just the combination of colours and design, but it looks thicker than the specs. My last experience with LG was a 4X HD...which was horrible.. Never owned a V10 but I liked the back texture when handling it at a store.

I might give the v20 a go, specs, camera and audio look promising, and I am taking more videos than pictures these days. Wanted the Note 7 (like the stylus), but since its going badaboom and my note 4 is slowly dying ...might try it

If only they had kept some semblance of the great design of the V10. If the cam reviews are good, I still may pick it up while holding my nose at the bland, vanilla boring and bad design. At this point, when chinese 300 dollar phones have stellar design, LG needs to do better.

Well, I'm a Samsung man, but I reckon this looks like a nice tidy unit. Understated. I do like the removable back (battery). The camera seems pretty good too.. That second notification screen thing, might have to get used to it i guess...

My second G4 battery allows me to capture my son's entire 4 hour band concerts in full HD. Couldn't do it any other way. The audio quality is not great though. I've not had any bootloop problem nor have my friends with G4's, though it's clearly a problem for many, so I am hesitant about LG going forward. But the unmatched audio quality, continued swappable battery, and the many other amazing features should make the V20 a real winner. I'll look at it next to the Samsung Note when the time comes.

Coming from an ATT Note 4, this looks like it might be my next device! It checks all of the boxes that I've come to depend on:

SD Card
Removable battery
Large screen
Better fingerprint scanner

I'm particularly interested in the camera for video and stills, it sounds like it's using the same hardware that was included with the G5. I'll have to go see comparison shots with that phone against the S7 and iPhone 6S.

How rootable has LG been? I've been holding up for the new Nexus/Pixel phones so I can have a pure google UI, where other LG phones able to support unlocked bootloaders on T-Mobile? How is the LG rom scene?

I don't think the ROM scene is very strong, but the V10 did achieve root and Xposed capabilities after a few months. There was some issue with the second screen, but developers solved that too. IF this device is popular, I expect more support, but I wouldn't buy if that's your focus.

On another note, rooting and romming was a big part of my phone ownership, but I wasn't moved to root the v10 until quite a few months in. I enjoyed it as it was (which was pretty unheard of for my prior phones).

I love the removable battery and SD support and I use the IR blaster a lot more than I thought I would.

If your Note is starting to get long in the tooth, give the V20 a chance. Or pick up a used V10. They should be a little easier to come by in the very near future.

Why is everyone complaining about the designed? I think it looks clean and way better and the specs are off the chart including the camera's. The pop off metal battery cover is a great idea Sammy take notes. I think LG hit a home run with this phone and it's the best device they have released so far.

Better than the G5, definitely, but I liked the feel and the uniqueness of the v10. Who knows, if LG would've actually supported that phone (with accessories and updates), maybe it'd have been more popular.

What I'm getting it is, while this looks nice, it also looks kinda boring. I see no reason to switch to this from my s7 Edge, and if I were in the market for a new phone, I'd still likely pick the Edge (or a Nexus) over the v20 (based on what I've seen so far, and LG's historically bad software).

The most ridiculous aspect of this reveal is seeing Bang & Olufsen all over the place just to find out it's not coming here. Man these hardware manufactures marketing departments are so out of touch with the Market. Don't show me something that's not available in my region.

I think the V10 had some pretty classy and distinct colors and design. V20 looks alright, but I have really yet to see a phone that looks good with two cameras on the back. However, this is a lot better than the dual cameras on the G5.

I think the V10 has a more unique design. The V20 just looks bland to me. Not sure if it's that dull grey color but it screams for a skin to add some visual punch. As for the phone, it should sell well, assuming LG puts some marketing muscle behind it. I doubt it will approach Note 7 sales levels though.

This release sucks bad!!! When the V10 came out it blew the doors off the Note 5. Plus it had many firsts 4gb ram 64gb storage. 2nd screen Nada this year. The Note 7 crushes the V20. Soooo disappointing! Oh well I switched back to Note 7 after my V10 bootlooped. I LOVE Samsung Pay and IP68!!!!! Nothing compares!

Had the V10, looks like I keep the Note 7. I can't go back to an IPS panel, its a serious downgrade in my opinion. I never thought I'd buy any device without a removable battery but being waterproof I took a chance and almost 7 hours SOT I can make it work. However, if my replacement N7 isn't as good I will look elsewhere. Nexus Marlin and Bezelfish lack too much. Running out of choices sucks

Meh, I'm digging the design but LGs skin still kills it for me. I'll see what Google has in store, haven't had a stock Android phone since the Galaxy Nexus, maybe it's time to take the plunge again. Looks like they kept most of what people liked about the V10 though, which is good.

I'm gonna be real curious to see of they drop the modular design for the G6.

This is so meh to me, lol! Uninspiring detail if u ask me.. the camera tech with all the mics and DAC tech is kinda impressive but aside from techie people like us on blogs n stuff I don't a lot of people rushing out to get one of these when their available, lol! I just watched LG's UX video and was like sheeeeeeeeesh this is boring, lol!

I still prefer a removable battery vs a larger one, because at some point that nonremovable larger battery is going to stop holding a charge. It's hard to find high end phones now a days with a removable battery.

Is it really enough to upgrade from the V10 though? Now I'm wondering. Its just everything from the G5 along with the camera software from the V10 and a new sleek build. It will come down to camera performance and if the new autofocus and image stabilization really make a difference.

Yeah true but I'm definitely getting it. I saw Pocketnow's camera tour and the tech they are using is the real deal plus you get more horsepower under the hood. I was sad about the 3200mAh battery but you can get 3900mAh slim batteries for the V10 that are the same size as the stock battery and I'm sure we'll get some in the same range or better for the V20. In that sense the V20 is pretty much everything I wanted except for the iconic look of the V10 which I just have to accept.

I like the rear volume buttons of the V10, except when the phone is its back faced up and I want to turn the volume down (requiring me to pick up the phone or double tab and use the pull down volume slider). With the V20, the side buttons would solve this problem. And at least the power button is still on the back and I'd have to see about controlling the volume buttons on the side with my thumbs and handheld. It could work out better overall.

I do like the steel bars and duraskin of the V10 but if this newer design is just as durable and comfortable to hold, then I can live with that. As no other phones give me the second screen, DAC, removable battery and ruggedness, the V20 probably will be my next if I need to move on from my V10.

Unfortunately, the side buttons are the worst decision for me. I have always had issues with side buttons and the back buttons have been amazing. I would rather have no buttons than go back to that nuisance.

I'm picking up my v20 tomorrow...will try it for 2-4 weeks. I feel like Note 7's biggest fan...I am soon damned disappointed. If I thought they'd put out an 8 in 6 to 8 months, I'd wait...maybe I could sell this one after next Note comes out, but I've been trying to sell my 5 for 4 months, 64 gig for &400! Lousy resale. I'll see how I adjust to v20! Let you know.

They pretty much had my money at "removable battery and expandable memory" but the additional photography and video power has me sold. And I actually like the way it looks. I enjoy my V10 a bunch. but I'm happy to get a little sleeker phone.

Well for those of us who actually use the V10 as a daily driver for almost a year now:
The V10 is chore to hold without a case, that steel rail just uncomfortable to hold and dug into your palm. As far as it's look is just rugged not fresh at all. I'm glad LG redesigned it to a more modern and polished look, it may not be "new" but seriously how many different way can you design a rectangular slab? Exactly!

I work in Manhattan New York City and in my travels I see literally hundreds of cell phones if not over 1000 by the time I get home. It is a rare moment I see a phone without a case and most of them are not of the clear variety. In the end how a phone looks doesn't matter all the much unless it's naked and you need to show it off. As for this phone being ugly..... I just don't see it that way, however everyone has a preference or we would all by the same phone.

Not according to the specs and videos put out. The V20 has a single front facing camera capable of both wide and regular angle shots. The practical effect is the same, but without needing to take up space for another camera.

Maybe not, they just stumbled so much with the G5 that they had to make the V20 a more mainstream design, it could actually be a good switch for them to make though, get their flagship launch out of the same cycle as most of the other big android names.

Unfortunately that attempt has made me reconsider what my next phone will be. If LG is ditching the back buttons, then I don't really have much reason to stay devoted to them. As much as I love my V10, I now have to send it back for another repair. I would rather avoid Samsung, but if I could get a Note right now, I just might do it...

Good lord, the amount of camera tech on this thing is just mind boggling. For that alone, LG deserves so much props.

Also, you mentioned it adopted the Nougat multi window feature, does it allow for ANY apps to run as such (say, if I want to run Spotify and Pinterest at the same time) and not what LG has limited to for so long (mostly Google stuff?)

Yes and no. On my Nexus 6p whenever I run the multi window feature, Google shows a small warning toast that "The app may not work in multi-window". What I found however is that almost every single app was working, even when that toast was shown.

So you can run any app in multi-window in the Android Nougat multi-window feature, but there are some apps that might not run fully well.

How is it better than the G5??? Build quality is lower but who cares if you take care of it. I have the G5 and it's the best and fastest phone I ever used. I love that the removable batteries are back and I hope it continues.

EDIT: I misread your original comment. But, people DO care about build quality. No amount of "taking care of it" will fix the way panels line up with each other. I'm glad LG paid attention and didn't let that happen with the V20 (at least according to early hands-on).